Outcast
by Ophelia Joane
Summary: Lucy Weasley isn't like every other Weasley...


_Written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition by Beater 1 of the Appleby Arrows._

 _Prompts:_

 _(spell) Bat-Bogey Hex_

 _(word) stubborn_

 _(creature) owl_

* * *

"What a freak."

"She has, like, no friends."

"Her own family doesn't even like her."

She kept walking, blocking out the hateful things being said about her.

"She's such a coward, all the Weasleys are in Gryffindor and she isn't. She's just a stupid Ravenclaw."

"Oh my god, that was so funny Lisa! I see what you did there."

Lucy rolled her eyes at the Slytherins. She recognized all of them as the school's gossip. She wasn't a coward. She was just really smart, smarter than all of them. And how dare they say something like that around her in _her_ place, the library. Lucy looked around to see if anyone was watching and gathered her things, making her way towards the exit. Unfortunately, it meant she had to walk past the girls. Lucy looked up to only see a few people she recognized, but was relieved to see that they weren't watching her or paying any attention to the group of giggling gits close to her. She wanted to say something, but couldn't stop her feet and make herself turn around. She couldn't open her mouth. Her body was being stubborn and not listening to her, it just kept walking.

Maybe she really was a coward.

Lucy Weasley had always felt like such a huge disappointment to her family. The time she was sorted into Ravenclaw into Gryffindor was huge in her family (though, not nearly as bad as when Albus was sorted into Slytherin) and they taunted her for months about it. Even her own dorky sister had been sorted into Gryffindor.

So in that moment, instead of turning around and standing up for herself, she fled, leaving a group of giggling girls in her wake.

 _o.O.o_

The Owlery was always her favorite place to go when she was upset. Barely anyone traveled there at night and the constant 'whoing' by the owls were calming. Being surrounded by her favorite animals was a plus too.

"Hey there Demetria," she cooed to her own black owl. Running her hands through her feathers, Lucy got lost in her thoughts.

She was in her Sixth Year, and a Prefect at that. She got the highest grades in her year, was nice to everyone, and mostly kept to herself. Who in the world was she bothering so much that all people did was make fun of her? Sure she wasn't as beautiful as Victoire, as flirty as Dom, as funny as Roxy, feisty like Rose, or as sweet as Lily. But she also wasn't as vain as Victoire, as flaky as Dom, as rude as Roxy, bad-tempered like Rose, or as stubborn as Lily. She was just Lucy.

"Hey Lu," a voice broke through her trance. Lucy turned to see Al and another boy who she knew as Tybalt Zabini. "What are you doing here this time of night?" Al asked earning a shrug from Lucy.

"Just feeding Demetria here, et tu Brute?" Albus chose not to question the fact that there was no food around Lucy's owl, but laughed nervously instead.

"Sending a letter to Dad about Ty and I going to the Auror office for a 'take your child to work day,' it's something new the Ministry is trying. I think they got it from Muggles."

"Hmm," Lucy hummed, "it definitely sounds like something Muggles would do." She hadn't heard anything like that yet, but wondered if maybe she could ask Aunt Hermione if she could shadow her for a day. Hermione was Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, something Lucy really wanted to do.

Albus laughed again, and like he had a random thought, jumped. "Oh, hey, I don't think you and Ty have met. Ty, this is Lucy. Lucy, this is Ty."

Ty nodded to her, without looking her in the eyes and Lucy felt herself deflate a little. She had heard the girls talk about how handsome he was, but was a mystery to them as he never really talked to anyone besides a couple of his friends.

"I know Tybalt," Lucy started, "he's in the same year as me, one of the Prefects. He's also a chaser for your guy's quidditch team."

"Oh, right," Al said, losing interest in the conversation. "Well, I really got to send this off now."

"Okay," Lucy replied. She got up and wiped the dirt off her skirt. "I was just about to head off anyways. It was nice seeing you Al, Tybalt." She nodded to the both of them and walked out of the Owlery.

It was a chilly, autumn night, but Lucy wasn't ready to go back inside the castle just yet. She sat herself down next to the big oak tree by the lake. The sun was already set and she was sure that it was almost past curfew. She couldn't find it in her to care though. She just wanted to be surrounded by peace and quiet and she just wanted, for one moment, for her brain to turn off. She wanted to just be.

"Hey."

Lucy jumped and screamed, falling over as she tried to quickly stand. Grabbing her wand out of her sleeve and turned it towards who had scared her.

"Woah, hey hey! It's just me, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

Lucy pushed back her fringe and slowly stood up, putting her wand back in her sleeve. "Merlin, Tybalt. You can't just go on and sneak up on people like that! What are you even doing here, I thought you were Al."

Tybalt shrugged, "Al had to go start rounds and I saw you walk here. Thought you might want some company."

She gulped. "Well, thank you, but I'm perfectly fine being by myself right now. You can go."

He paused and pursed his lips. "Okay, that may not be the only reason I'm here right now. I saw what happened in the library today, well heard what happened -"

"I don't want to talk about this." Lucy turned to leave, but stopped at his voice again.

"Wait, you know - you know what I think?"

Lucy towards turn him again. "I told you, I don't want to talk about this."

"At least let me walk you back to your dorm, and I can give you my two-cents."

"Your two-cents?" She raised an eyebrow, "that's an awful American expression."

"Just hear me out."

Lucy bit her lip and sighed. "Fine," she said, "let's walk."

He didn't say anything until they were almost all the way to the Ravenclaw common room.

"Why don't you ever say anything? People taunt you and make fun of you right in your face, yet you say nothing to them. Just ignore what they say and walk away. I think it's cool that you turn the other cheek, but how do you do it?"

Lucy shrugged and thought about it. "I can't ever think of what else to do. I just know I don't want to be there anymore."

"No," Tybalt said sharply. "I don't think it's because you want to leave, I think it's because you want to stay."

"That doesn't even make any sense."

"You want to turn back. You want to hit them with a, I don't know, a bat-bogey hex or something. You want to get them back. You want to show them that you can get them back."

"If all what you're saying is true," Lucy responded, "then why don't I do all that? Why do I just walk away."

"Because you don't want to change what people think about you," he said.

"That's ridiculous."

"No, no it's not. It's like this: you went into Hogwarts with people expecting you to be like everyone in your family, and then you had this reputation made for you based on what people think you're like. You think that maybe if they don't like you now that they're not going to like the real you even more."

"I'm still not following," Lucy replied as they reached the entrance to her common room.

Tybalt stopped next to her. "Sleep on it," he said, then turned and left.

"I will!" she called after him. Furrowing her eyebrows, she prepared herself to answer the riddle she knew was coming.

 _o.O.o_

The next morning Lucy sluggishly walked down to the Great Hall. It was Saturday, which meant she had no responsibilities and no homework to do, because unlike most of the students in the castle she actually didn't procrastinate.

Sitting down at her table, Lucy reached for her book with one hand, and oatmeal with the other.

"Oh look, the nerd is reading again."

"It's not like she has anyone that'll talk to her."

"They say that there's a black sheep in every family, well we know which Weasley it is."

Lucy slammed her hands on the table, her book landing in her oatmeal. A few people looked up, watching her with puzzled expressions.

"You know what? Shut up. Just shut up for once in your life. Merlin, how can you always be saying such venomous things, don't you get tired of being horrible? Don't you have better things to do than make others feel horrible? For once in your life, stop thinking about yourself. You think I don't have friends? You're all fake and hate each other. Stop digging in my damn business and go mind your owns." For dramatic effect Lucy pulled her wand at them and fired off the only hex she could think of.

As she watched them run from the bogey bats chasing them, out of the corner of her eyes she saw Tybalt smile and wink at her. For the first time since she had been at Hogwarts, she had finally felt like she was able to breathe.


End file.
